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<font size="-2"><a href="stories.html">TIM</a></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="debbie.html">DEBBIE</a></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="joanne.html">JOANNE</a></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="lj.html">L.J.</a></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="matt.html">MATT,</a></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="rory.html">RORY</a><font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="kelly.html">KELLY</a></font> •
<font size="-1"><strong>BRAD</strong></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="josh.html">JOSH</a></font> •
<font size="-2"><a href="mary.html">MARY</a></font>
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<img src="img/fvm-logo-75x75.gif" align="left"><font size="-1">When I first decided that a year
of ministry was for me,</font><font size="-1"> I was more than eager to get started.
It felt completely natural to try and <em>anticipate</em> which ministries I would do. "I'd
like to work in a prison, as I have in the past," I thought to myself. "Perhaps I will have
the opportunity to share my meditation practice there?" I wondered. These expectations came
to fruition and for the past two months I have found myself teaching a full load of meditation classes
at the state prison for women. I teach a calss for the general population, a class for those
in the drug rehabilitation unit, and a class to inmates in the psych ward. Despite me
anticipation, <em>my vain anticipation</em>, I have crossed into uncharted waters.</font>
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<font size="-1"><img src="pic/bradpic.jpg" align="right">The nuances, spiritual and social, of this ministry are significantly beyond
effable description. They are greater than the labels "good" and "bad", more
abtruse than "profound" or "enlightening"...these are things which I can <em>simply recount</em>.
After spending the last four years fully devoted to my own mindfulness meditation and its application,
I have found a serious personal expansion through my attempts to teach and share this practice with others.
Their open willingness to try something new, something spiritually introspective and foreign, has soberly
shattered my presumptions.</font>
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<font size="-1">Each week my hours of ministry entail <em>just sitting</em>, that's all- just
sharing the blessing fo mindful silence, jointly looking deeply into ourselves. And, despite the fact
that much of my time there is spent with eyes closed, I still have the chance to see the incarcerated
(the unintentional DUI murderers, the drug addicts, and the thieves) descending into their
own minds, into their own suffering- and coming out with direct knowledge of their internal
peace and of their newfound skill for touching that regularly. I get to be powerfully
immersed in this whole process and acutely a part of each's experience. Sitting beside my
new students, I feel the way in which, for the first time in their lives, they are experiencing
their true and liberated self- I gracefully get to share each spiritual renewal. And you'll
believe me whenI say, this has caused <em>more than a few tears from all those involved</em>...</font>
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<font size="-1"><em>• Brad, Wilmington '09−'10</em></font>
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<center><font size="-2"><em>If you're a former FVM and would like to contribute a story for the website, please
e-mail <a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">Lizzy</a>!</em></font></center>
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P.O. Box 29276 • Philadelphia, PA 19125
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<a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank"><font color="#EBD291" size="-1">[email protected]</font></a>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank"><font color="#EBD291" size="-1">[email protected]</font></a>
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phone: 215.427.3070 • fax: 215.427.3059</font></td>
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